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Urban League offically terminated from running Head Start program

Attorney Earl Johnson Jr. (left) , joined by a group of Jacksonville pastors on July 3, speaks with the media about the Urban League's appeal of a suspension from Head Start. The federal government has now decided to terminate the Jacksonville Urban League's administration of the program.

This shuttered Head Start facility on Moncrief Road was the backdrop as officials from the national Office of Head Start addressed the media Wednesday about its decision to take away the Jacksonville Urban League’s grant money.

Continued child safety concerns prompted federal officials Wednesday to strip the Jacksonville Urban League of its multimillion-dollar Head Start grant.

The national Office of Head Start identified nine areas of continued noncompliance for the Urban League, including failure to ensure children weren’t left alone or unsupervised, weren’t subjected to corporal punishment or emotional and physical abuse, and failure to maintain buildings and facilities.

The national office has also decided to close seven facilities used by the Urban League because of child safety concerns. Duval County Public Schools will allow the program to use some of its empty space in schools until permanent locations are found.

“This is not personal against the Jacksonville Urban League,” said Shawna Pinckney, Head Start’s national director of grants and contracts. “Our full goal and purpose is to support the health and safety of children here and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Richard Danford, president of the Jacksonville Urban League, said he expected the outcome because the Urban League didn’t have the resources to respond to deficiencies noted by the national office. The grant’s funding stopped flowing to the Urban League after the organization was put on suspension.

“All we can do is wait on the appeals out of Washington, D.C., of the original suspension,” Danford said.

Danford said he believed the termination was also intended to keep the Urban League from re-applying for the $14 million Head Start grant. The Urban League could have applied for the grant when it was merely suspended, but it cannot apply for the grant for five years having been terminated.

He said he never discounted that there were problems in the program that presented safety concerns for children, but he questioned whether the federal government gave the Urban League time to fix the problems prior to pulling the funding and whether the government followed its own guidelines.

“That’s the whole issue,” he said.

Pinckney is part of a team of federal officials in town this week to discuss the program with parents. Head Start’s national director, Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, will be in Jacksonville Thursday to help run the meeting with parents.

“This isn’t just about terminating a grantee that was performing poorly,” said Kenneth Wolfe, spokesman for the national Head Start program. “It’s about communicating to parents that the tax dollars that were being used were not being used in the best possible way.”

Wolfe said the program will not only continue, but be a better program under the new management.

Wednesday’s decision continues months of bad news from Washington for the Urban League dating back to January when the nonprofit was told it wouldn’t have its grant automatically renewed because of performance issues.

The federal government suspended the Urban League from day-to-day operations of the program in April after the Department of Children and Families raised safety concerns for children in the program.

There are about 1,600 Head Start grantees in the country and there have been eight grant terminations in the past seven years, including the Urban League’s.

The Urban League is already appealing the suspension. Danford said he would need to consult with the organization’s lawyer before saying whether the organization will appeal the termination decision.

The Head Start centers are opening 14 days later than normal, largely because of funding cuts from sequestration. Also because of sequestration, there will be about 300 fewer children in the programs, down to about 1,800 total for Head Start and Early Head Start.

Parents were notified in June when Head Start sessions ended there would be a delay in school opening in the fall, Pinckney said. She said parents were again told during the enrollment and recruitment process in the summer that school would open on Sept. 3. Another letter was due to go out to parents Wednesday informing them of the new opening date and where their child will be assigned.

For the next year, the program formerly run by the Urban League will continue to be managed by the Denver-based Community Development Institute, the organization the federal government uses when it suspends a grantee. The institute also managed Head Start programs in Pinellas County after the federal government took over those operations in 2012.